{"id":7736,"date":"2017-07-07T16:57:45","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T11:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=7736"},"modified":"2017-07-07T16:57:45","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T11:12:45","slug":"why-grassroots-activists-should-resist-being-professionalised-into-an-ngo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/why-grassroots-activists-should-resist-being-professionalised-into-an-ngo\/","title":{"rendered":"Why grassroots activists should resist being \u2018professionalised\u2019 into an NGO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sunil Babu Pant\/Pahichan &#8211; Activists from the global south hear, far too often, from our donors that we should \u201clearn how to become professional\u201d and \u201cmake NGO management efficient\u201d. Let\u2019s decode what that means.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Sunil-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-7738\" src=\"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Sunil-1-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"367\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Sunil-1-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Sunil-1-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Sunil-1.jpg 860w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\" \/><\/a>Professional means \u201ca person engaged or qualified in a profession\u201d. Donors would like you to be a \u201cprofessional\u201d activist and want to see you approaching human rights work as a profession.<\/p>\n<p>Efficient management means \u201cperforming or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort\u201d. For conventional NGOs this means achieving targets, writing reports and submitting them on time. To really understand the danger of becoming efficient, compare it with effectiveness. Being effective is about doing the right things, while being efficient is about doing things right, no matter how far you have moved away from human rights \u201cactivism\u201d to be part of an efficient management team.<\/p>\n<p>As soon as a well-meaning group of activists start the process of becoming a professional NGO, the problems begin. No matter what is said at the outset about the NGOs being free to act the way they have envisioned, the truth is that NGOs are deeply indebted by donors, and well-funded NGOs are even worse. This is the start of submission to a system that repeatedly disempowers and controls.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-3 | 1\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-comment--item \"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Look at the process: once a human rights movement in the global south decides to become a NGO \u2013 because that\u2019s the only way donors (especially big multilateral or bilateral ones) will fund you, and provide the most basic financial resources, you have to sign a memorandum of agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The NGO leaders and management team will have to be inducted into the \u201cgood governance\u201d model dictated by the donor through a series of training programmes, meetings and workshops. They will have to develop operating procedures, organisational policies and even strategies to match the donor\u2019s expectations. We are expected to be \u201cprofessional\u201d if we wish to continue to get funding.<\/p>\n<p>Then an NGO has to adopt a human resource policy, finance policy, as well as guidelines on how to use computers\/internet and how to engage with the press. The activists, who have no choice but to survive on the small salary that the NGO pays, have to submit to the processes of the organisation.<\/p>\n<p>This will affect everything from when the activist-turned-professional-staff are supposed to arrive or leave, to how they are supposed to conduct themselves at work. And the movement-turned-NGO often has to share its press releases to donors for their endorsement before it can be released.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-3 | 2\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item \">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__image-container u-responsive-ratio\">There are guidelines on how the NGO is supposed to conduct meetings, hire people, appraise the staff, reward them and even fire them. In the process of becoming professional and efficient, NGOs slowly forget to engage with real people\u2019s problems and emotions. The grassroots people (or fashionably called \u201ctarget population\u201d) find an ever widening class-gap between them and the NGO management.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div id=\"dfp-ad--inline1\" class=\"js-ad-slot ad-slot ad-slot--inline ad-slot--inline1 ad-slot--rendered\" data-link-name=\"ad slot inline1\" data-name=\"inline1\" data-mobile=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|fluid\" data-desktop=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|620,1|620,350|fluid\" data-google-query-id=\"CLfhv52D99QCFUkjaAod9J8BtA\">\n<div class=\"ad-slot__label\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/59666047\/theguardian.com\/global-development-professionals-network\/article\/ng_6__container__\" class=\"ad-slot__content\">The donors prefer measurable reporting to than effectiveness of activism. Thus the donors send templates to make the NGO efficient. It is very hard for grassroots organisations to comply with the donor\u2019s requirement for professional reporting, scientific data compilation and efficient management. Donors will try everything to make you \u201cprofessional\u201d. They don\u2019t care that, in the process of becoming professional and efficient, you become ineffective. You end up spending more time on paper work, and your actual work of promoting human rights, slowly falls down your list of priorities. To become professional and efficient you are encouraged, over time, to get rid of the \u201cemotional\u201d side of your personality, which not only makes you less of an activist but also make you less human.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Data must be validated by the donors. The injustices, abuses and deprivation taking place may be a well-known fact to the local communities but without research carried out using a methodology acceptable to the donor, the local knowledge retains no value and is considered \u201canecdotal\u201d. You end up spending so much time and energy to validate your \u201canecdotal\u201d knowledge that crucial advocacy has to wait until the validation is completed. Usually the recommendation is a follow-up study.<\/p>\n<p>And so genuine activists get frustrated and seek escape. They seek ways to block out the disempowerment process. They refuse to participate while the senior manager is doing a staff performance appraisal and are indifferent to organisational rituals like one-to-ones, meeting the press or quarterly reviews with the donors. The movement-turned-NGO rebels by not sending reports to the donor within the stipulated time and saying \u201cthe computer crashed\u201d, even if that means the donor giving you a red mark and threatening discontinuation of funding.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-3 | 3\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item \">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__header\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__arrow\">A good leader is sensitive to the disempowering ecosystem created by a large, process-driven NGO\/donor. That leader provides the emotion that donor-pleasing NGOs are incapable of having. They have the power to bring joy to the team, discuss their issues, vent their frustrations and encourage their ideas. More importantly, a leader protects the interest of the movement, not because that is the expected \u201cprofessional\u201d leadership process, but because they are an empowered human being and knows why they are a leader.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The leader can create the space for all activists without compromising funding. But they should also be ready to say no to funding if the movement\u2019s agenda is compromised or hijacked. A good leader enables the human rights movement to be free from the \u201cprofessionalism and efficiency-driven\u201d activist-taming culture. A good leader also knows when they should leave, not because they do not have the skills or capacity anymore, but because they have empowered staff to replace them.<\/p>\n<div id=\"dfp-ad--inline2\" class=\"js-ad-slot ad-slot ad-slot--inline ad-slot--inline2 ad-slot--rendered\" data-link-name=\"ad slot inline2\" data-name=\"inline2\" data-mobile=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|fluid\" data-desktop=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|620,1|620,350|fluid\" data-google-query-id=\"CK3_95-D99QCFcWkaAodZ8oG1w\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/59666047\/theguardian.com\/global-development-professionals-network\/article\/ng_7__container__\" class=\"ad-slot__content\">Funding is not the only important consideration for an NGO. It is an important component but it is not always needed. Keep this in mind when looking for funding. It is a well-known fact that the big multilateral and bilateral donors have more funding to disburse (after their own handsome portion for administrative charge) but there are small donors, private foundations and grants that are often better suited for human rights organisations. Look for funding only when it is vital but don\u2019t make funding a goal of your organisation.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>My advice to human rights movements is to remain grassroots and loosely organised movement for as long as you can. Don\u2019t become a \u201cprofessional\u201d NGO for the sake of it. Becoming \u201cprofessional and efficient\u201d is becoming corporate. You will deliver much better if you stay a raw, innocent and effective activist. If not, you might as well shift to the corporate world.<\/p>\n<p><em>This blogpost was first published on\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@sunilbabupant\/how-a-human-rights-movement-gets-dis-empowered-1348d5d62b7a\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Medium<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Sunil Babu Pant is the founder of the\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bds.org.np\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Blue Diamond Society<\/a>, a Nepalese LGBTIQ organisation.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sunil Babu Pant\/Pahichan &#8211; Activists from the global south hear, far too often, from our donors that we should \u201clearn how to become professional\u201d and \u201cmake NGO management efficient\u201d. Let\u2019s decode what that means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":7737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[621,492,490],"tags":[203,1159,498,157],"class_list":["post-7736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","category-slider","tag-blue-diamond-society","tag-lgbtiq","tag-ngo","tag-sunil-babu-pant"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7739,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7736\/revisions\/7739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}